What happened to the Magic that steamrolled an Atlanta team (who finished with a better record than Boston)? They recognize the guys from the fourth quarter comeback, but that was not enough. Now the Magic are in a 1-0 hole in the Eastern Conference Finals.

Was that the real Magic team, and they are not a good as we thought? Or did we only see glimpses of what they can do? Honestly, the Magic players may not know the answer to those questions. Nobody will until Tuesday night.

What happened in Game 1 to Orlando wasn’t about rust while sitting out. Well, not completely. It’s a lot of time in practice where it was impossible to simulate what the Celtics do on defense, how physical they are, how long they are. The Magic certainly didn’t see that from an Atlanta team that went meekly. Suddenly, that presence was in their face.

“I don’t think we were prepared for the level that they were ready to play,” Vince Carter said after the game in a televised press conference.

Orlando looked caught off-guard. Like a boxer dazed after a good punch. The time off amplified that, but they simply had not had to go up against a team playing at this level of defense all year.

What Orlando does on offense is not complex — they go inside to Dwight Howard, and expect you to double team him. He may power through your guys and score anyway, or he will kick out to a deadly perimeter shooter. Secondly, they will run the pick-and-roll (multiple ones on one play) until the defense is out of its shape, and the Magic attack. They want their shots to be threes or in the paint.

The Celtics didn’t have to double or bend out of shape. They have Kendrick Perkins in the middle guarding Dwight Howard one-on-one, and that allows Celtics defenders to stay with guys on the perimeter. Perkins was pushing Howard off the spots he wanted to shoot, being physical with him. Kevin Garnett was helping and recovering like he was 10 years younger. The Celtics played one-on-one and gave up shots to the Magic in the paint, then just tried to contest them.

It worked, the Magic were not hitting shots over the long-armed Celtics defenders in the paint nor were they hitting threes (0-9 in the first half). What’s more, the Celtics played right into their hands by doing a lot of post-isolation for Howard in the first half. The Celtics were not dominating on offense, but they didn’t need to be to take a 15-point lead.

“They pretty much guarded everyone one-on-one, and we weren’t able to score one-on-one,” Magic coach Stan Van Gundy. “The biggest problem on the offensive end, clearly, though was turnovers.”

The Magic had 18 turnovers for the game.

In the second half, the Magic started to attack more from the their guards and they kept taking threes — then in the fourth quarter they started hitting those shots (they scored on 10 of their first 14 possessions in the fourth quarter). Jameer Nelson started seeing his shot fall, and JJ Redick was hitting shots from the second he came off the bench. Things opened up.

The Celtics held on to win because they have big game veterans who know how to hit key shots, guys such as Ray Allen and Paul Pierce.

The Magic are over their daze. They will play better next game, the guys that Magic fans remember will be back. Now, will that be enough against a good Celtics team is a separate question.

If they keep playing like this, who’s going to stop the Boston Celtics?

Certainly not the Orlando Magic, who walked into Game 1 against the Celtics as heavy favorites, having swept their first two series of the playoffs only to get blownout for thrre quarters, make a furious comeback that came up short, and eventually fall 92-88.

Everything you saw in the Cleveland series? More of that. The smothering Celtics defense? Check. The massive failure of the best player on the opposing team (Dwight Howard)? Check. Rajon Rondo playing brilliantly? Check. Glen Davis being annoyingly effective? Check. Ray Allen nailing shot after shot after shot? Check.

The Magic couldn’t get anything going for three quarters. Their offense looked stagnant and failed to capitalize on any of the perimeter rotations that gave them such advantages last year. Dwight Howard had one of the worst games of his career, and did all against single coverage. The MVP candidate continuously missed chip shots, failed to convert any and-ones, and missed his free throws on his way to a 13 point performance on 3 of 10 shooting.

The Magic made a late run, but the Celtics were able to hang on. The Celtics led by 20 in the third before the Magic cut it to 3 inside the final minute, but just couldn’t get past the lead as Paul Pierce and Ray Allen drained clutch free throws. The Magic comeback does give them some monetum, as Jameer Nelson was able to produce down the stretch in a key matchup against Rondo. But the Magic had dug a hole too deep.

So what were the specific elements that led to this Celtic win? Let’s do a bullets breakdown. Because there were so many.

Paul Pierce torched Vince Carter, who had the best offensive game for the Magic with 22. Pierce worked him at the elbow, slipped free for threes, and hit several key shots in the fourth. Carter played terrific on offense, but if you let two of the big three loose, it’s hard to win the game.

Rasheed Wallace was a best, forcing Howard to go to the line, getting in his head with rough contact, nailing threes and outworking everyone. Everything Sheed said about turning it on when it counts has come true so far.

Ray Allen was spectacular with 25 points, shooting 8-16 from the floor.

Glen Davis came in and showed off the offensive moves Howard did not, adding crucial buckets late as well as his usual whale bellyflop type energy.

Tony Allen had another terrific game, including an alley-oop you’ll be seeing on every highlights package for two days.

The Celtics withstood a terrific charge by the Magic from Nelson, Carter, and J.J. Redick who needs to start next game if Stan Van Gundy wants to keep Ray Allen under 20. Redick showed what we told you he would, an ability to run off Allen and limit him.

Even with the late near-meltdown, the Celtics are now in charge of the series, have a blueprint for limiting Howard without giving up perimeter shots, and have homecourt advantage again. They look more focused, are getting all the breaks (including one stretch where Pierce was granted a ridiculous continuation, followed by Rondo catching a blocked shot for a floater), and are out-executing their opponents at both ends.